What I learned this Long Weekend

• That the weather can change in a heartbeat in Alberta.  Actually I knew that, but we went from omfg its stuffy and hot in the house to I need gloves today while at the greenhouse.
  
• That I love long weekends.  They should happen every weekend : )
  
• That my new favorite movie is "Tangled".  Yes I know its probably targeted at girls younger than myself, but it had a prince, a princes, a talking horse, a camelion and singing bad guys.  Need I say more!  O...and a happy ending : )
  
• That I should have changed the channel when Strange Sex came on and they showed a couple that are into Feederism.  The 600 pound woman and her boyfriend had a "goal" for her to reach 1000 pounds so  she would be even MoRE sexually attractive.  I am all for loving the curves but good lord.  It's insane to think that is a goal and that these people don't think that death could be the result of that particular fetish.  Alrighty then!
  
• That I can make a mean batch of oatmeal cookies.
  
• That if neighbors have kids who become teenagers and are punk asses as Chad would say, they should not be allowed to take off all weekend and leave them to annoy the crap out of the neighborhood.
  
• That my body has atrophied over the winter and is now feeling the wrath of garden work.  But it's good to get moving again.
  
•  That I don't at all want to go back to work tomorrow.

Well hope everyone had a great long weekend no matter what you were up to!

Cats

In Feb-March this year it was damn cold out an there was a ton of snow on the ground.  I would look outside and be grateful I had a warm house to be inside.  I kept on seeing an orange cat running around.  Could it be a neighbor cat?  If it was why would they let it out in such freezing weather?  I watched and saw it here and there and had a hunch it was a stray.  Just in case I made a little shelter and put some food in it on our front porch.  The cat often came to our step then went under our front deck for shelter.  I tried to get close to it but no way jose.  So I put food out everyday and eventually got a humane trap to catch him.  I put some sardines in it and got him right away and then took him to the Humane Society.

Then we had another little guy - this time a grey one that was hung like a grape.  He was more friendly and seemed more tame but also didn't seem to have a home.  I talked with our neighbor and she took that one in also to the Humane Society.

When you take an animal into them, they first put its picture up on their Stray animals section.  If they are not claimed they eventually go up for adoption.  The humane society is such an awesome place but what shocks me is this:

•  They currently have over 400 cats in their care

• A huge percentage of them have to be fixed before being adopted out...at a cost to the humane society and those of us who donate to it
  
• The number of people who just let their cats wander or move and leave them behind
  
• The number of people who don't fix their cats and then let them roam

It boggles my mind that people are still not getting the message.  The number of people who have the latest vehicle and TV, but can't spend a few bucks to get their pets spayed or neutered makes me crazy.  Pets are not disposable things.  If you don't want to look after it properly...don't get one.  If you can't have it anymore for some reason then be responsible and find it a good home.

I am so happy the humane society has such a nice facility now and it's mostly thanks to a lady that left a substantial contribution (millions) to the Edmonton SPCA in her will.  What a great thing to do!  Hopefully one day people will be more responsible but at least now some of these helpless critters have a place to go and people to care for them till they find a proper home.

Don't Mess with Mother Nature

This past winter really put me into a hibernation mode.  It seemed to last forever so I like many people hunkered down and went through the days on auto pilot.  But now, its a distant memory and I am getting out in the yard and re-discovering that I have muscles in my body.  I know they are there because they hurt like hell after a day of hauling dirt around the yard.  But its all good, the city is getting nicer looking by the day with the streets getting cleaned and everything is greening up.

I can honestly say there hasn't been anything earth shattering going on in our world and that is OK.  That is how I like it.  I will be going to the new Enjoy Centre this Friday to purchase way to many flowers, so having the days off AND going plant shopping is a great day in my books. 

I was just watching the news and there is a lot going on in the province with the forest fires and Slave Lake almost burning down.  It's pretty crazy that the May long weekend is coming and its actually going to be nice and warm.  Too hot and dry in fact as there is now a fire ban in effect.  My memories of May long weekends camping always entailed freezing my ass off, waking up in my pup tent to snow or sleet and not even getting comfort from the endless supply of baby duck or blue nun wine.  (times were tough back then).

Mother natures seems kind of pissy this year.  If you look around the world there has been a lot of major "situations".  Tsunamis, flooding, fires, earthquakes. She is probably just fed up with all of us idiots and wants to remind us who is really boss.  "So you want to put nuclear plants next to fault lines?"  Take that bitches!  "You want to build houses below sea level?"  Take that bastards.  I totally understand, I have moments like that myself and if I had her kind of power at "that time of the month", there could be a few casualties in my path too!

But I digress, life is good and I am pretty sure that the world won't end May 21st.  I really hope not as I will be buying a bunch of flowers on the 20th for nothing then.   Although it could be true, after all its written on the Internet.  Then it must be true right?  Well I gotta go - just got a call from Woody Harelson to go hang out in his van on the mountain.